Rambling – adj. straying from one subject to another

Couch to 5k

This is the story of a girl who is terrible at motivating herself to continuously do anything. Who ‘flip flops’ from one idea to the next. Who goes 100% full steam into something one week, and has forgotten all about it the next week. That’s basically me. 100% enthusiasm, or 0% enthusiasm and getting in between is quite difficult.

So, to have reached the dizzy heights of week 5 of Couch to 5k is actually a much bigger deal than it seems. And for the most part, I’ve kept a lot of this off social media, simply because I know I’m a ‘flip flopper’ (it’s my new phrase, stolen from Neighbours of course!). But after 5 weeks I feel like it’s becoming normal and I’m really pleased with the progress I’m making.

Couch to 5k is a programme designed to help couch potatoes, or those that haven’t done a lot of running before, to slowly build their stamina up to run 5k (or 3 miles if you prefer). There are various apps you can get to take you through it. I have chosen the NHS choices one, it’s very ‘no frills’ so if you want an app that monitors your runs a bit more, or talks to you a bit more I’d probably shop elsewhere. So far (upto week 5) the app uses a combination of walking and running, slowly replacing walking minutes with running minutes. It’s very gradual but just hard enough to make it feel as though it’s doing you some good. When I look back and think about how ‘bad’ I felt even at week 2, I can’t believe how quickly my fitness has inproved.

For me, I think it’s also built confidence. Because it’s gradual it’s a case of just adding a little bit extra each week, with the knowledge that you completed runs the previous before and so it’s much more of a mental challenge than anythig else.

So, my next run is the ever frightening solid ’20 min run’ – a far cry from the nice run/walk programmes that I’ve been doing currently. However, so far, I’ve really noticed how much my fitness has improved in the last 4 weeks, and that’s plenty of reward in itself.

Hopefully I’ll be back here in 4 weeks telling you I’ve gone out and run 5k! See you then!